Private Bet 7: The Prince of Pigtails
by Shade
Summary: What would happen if we replaced a weenie with everybody's favorite pigtailed martial artist? Only one way to find out!
1. Act One: Once a Baka, Always a Baka!

Private Bet #7: The Prince of Pigtails  
A Ranma 1/2 & Tenchi Muyo! Combo  
by Shade  
  
Disclaimer: TSR, Takahashi & AIC creations have been used here   
without their permission. This is a lawyer free fanfic!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Who's that?"   
  
"An acquaintance from Shadowdale."  
  
Rowan didn't elaborate further.  
  
"That's HIM?!?! I thought he'd be taller."  
  
"He's probably the only person who can   
sympathize with what Ranma has to go through."  
  
The Guardian laughed at his little joke. The others   
just sweatdropped, maybe if they were quiet nobody   
would think he was with their group.  
  
"Are you sure you want to do that?" Shadow asked the hooded figure.  
  
"Of course, meddling is one of the few vices I still have."  
  
The hood was thrown back to reveal a old man with a   
twinkle in his eye. With an agility that few would suspect   
from such an ancient and dignified personage he tossed   
a finely cut garnet into the pool.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Chromosomes are a funny thing.  
  
A single one of them determines if you're boy or a girl.  
  
The rest serve as a template for who you are and what you might be.  
  
But the most interesting thing about them is that if given   
the slightest push in the right direction the genetic information  
for one individual can be changed to that of someone else....  
  
~~~~~~  
  
"Ranma! Ranma! Where are you boy?!"  
  
Katsuhito Masaki wondered where that scamp   
of a grandson had gone to now as he walked   
up the stairs of the Masaki shrine.  
  
Ranma Masaki was currently digging around   
in his grandfather's storage room looking for a   
certain set of keys. This was his last chance,   
tomorrow he'd have to return to his home and  
*Ugh*...school.  
  
Ranma loved the summers he spent in this   
peaceful valley but for the past couple of   
years he'd been too focused on finding a   
way to get into the Demon's cave to enjoy   
the scenery and the quiet reprieve from   
the normal hassles of teenage life. Then   
there was his father and his weird ideas   
to worry about.  
  
Noboyuki had been a fine (if slightly shy) man   
in his day. Then his wife Achika died.  
  
In a fit of grief he left his son with his   
father-in-law and became the apprentice of   
a mysterious martial arts master. When Noboyuki   
finally returned from his training he was a   
changed man, he was....  
  
...a complete and utter pervert.  
  
Ranma shuddered briefly before resuming his   
search for those keys. He just had to find out   
what was in that cave!  
  
A whisper of air made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.  
  
Uh oh.....  
  
He turned just in time to see the outside   
door slide shut. Frantically he looked around  
the room, Grandpa wasn't going to be happy if   
he caught him here. But his emergency visual   
scan turned up empty with the exception of a   
sleeping cat.  
  
He relaxed.  
  
*WHAP*  
  
"Ow!! What's the big...?!!!"  
  
Pause.  
Look over right shoulder.  
Panic.  
  
"Erk.....Grandpa...what a surprise to see you here!"  
  
"Looking for this?" Katsuhito pulled out a   
set of keys hanging from a old and worn   
keyring from his robe.  
  
The teenager's eyes gleamed eagerly.  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
The birds chirped happily   
in the shade of the majestic trees.  
  
As far as Mother Nature was concerned all   
was right in the world.   
  
Ranma might have argued about that if it   
didn't hurt his jaw so much when he opened it.   
The old man sure didn't pull any of his punches   
and packed quite a wallop for someone his age,   
but then his grandson wouldn't have had it any   
other way. He'd put up a good fight, in fact   
the battle between the two of them had lasted   
for nearly five minutes this time, a new record.   
In the end though Gramps had pulled out one of   
his sneaky special techniques and the next thing   
the younger Masaki knew he had a date with the   
other side of the wall.   
  
But he'd gotten the key.  
  
Ranma smirked, then winced in pain.  
  
{Damn, I forgot about my jaw again.}  
  
He rubbed it ruefully, hopefully the   
swelling would go down in a few hours.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
-Obligatory Flashback  
[Scene edges soften]  
  
"Ranma! How many times have I   
told you not to play in here?"  
  
"Gramps what's in there?"  
  
Chibi-Ranma asked, ignoring the   
scolding with an ease that spoke   
of long experience.  
  
"A demon sleep in there Ranma."  
  
"A demon? Really?"  
  
Katsuhito nodded, then prepared   
to launch into his suitably heroic   
story in order to impress the child  
and convince him to never come   
back here.   
  
At least, that was his plan.  
  
"Wow!!  
Can I play with it?  
Wanna be friends Demon?  
Where are youuuuu?"  
  
Chibi-Ranma darted around excitedly,   
looking around for the demon in the cave.  
  
"Come out, come out where ever you are!"  
  
Katsuhito sweatdropped.  
  
{I'm getting too old for this.}  
  
~~~~  
-We now return you to the present which is already in progress  
  
Inside the darkened interior of the cave an ancient   
gate was ajar, the lock that had sealed it for centuries   
gathered dust on the rocks where it had fallen.  
  
Ranma was busy trying to free what appeared   
to be a sword from a small shrine he'd found   
at the back of the cave.  
  
He gave a mighty tug and a moment later suddenly   
felt the blade sliding free from its stony confinement.  
  
"This is the great weapon that imprisoned the demon?"  
  
He held the sword up to get a better look.  
The rusted iron blade snapped off and bonked him   
on the head, decades of corrosion finally taking   
their toll on the weakened metal.   
  
"OW!" The hand not holding the sword rubbed the   
large lump that sprouted from the impact.  
  
"What a piece of junk!"  
  
Except for the three red jewels mounted   
in the sword's hilt it was nothing to look at.  
He was a little curious about the design though,  
Ranma didn't recognize the style or the material that   
the hilt was made of.  
  
"Kuso." All that effort for nothing, just a little rusty   
trinket and a whole lot of pain. He'd skipped out   
on his chores for THIS??  
  
Angrily he banged the pommel against the nearest   
object, a large rock with a ton of faded paper wards on it.  
  
The stone broke in half.  
The Shinto wards vaporized.  
  
His eyes bugged out to twice their normal size.  
  
{Oh man, I'm in trouble.}  
  
Panicking the young man backed up to the cavern wall,   
which suddenly wasn't there anymore...  
  
"Aaaaaaaiiiiiiiiggghhhh...*THUNK*...ow..."  
  
Forunately he landed on his head so   
nothing important was damaged.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
A few minutes later Ranma ran screaming out   
of the secret entrance. Nothing living scared him,   
the dead were a different story altogether.   
Especially when the corpse was still kicking!!  
  
His Grandfather had taught him that a   
little fear is healthy, it kept you alert   
and alive.  
  
But right now he was beyond simple fear.  
  
The only other time he had been this shaken   
had been when he was fourteen and his dear   
old dad had decided to make a man out of   
his son and dragged him to a brothel.  
  
It took three years of therapy to get him   
over that tramatic event. And he still got  
cold shivers every time he passed by a perfume  
shop.  
  
"There's gotta be a way to close it!"  
  
Ranma started tying the two pieces of the rock  
back together with some of the vines hanging  
from the walls.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
".........."  
  
"........"  
  
"......"  
  
"Well...it's never been   
done quite like that before."  
  
The Guardian tried to think of a diplomatic   
comment to make. A large sweatdrop formed   
as he struggled to be honest yet polite at the same time.  
  
"Everyone seeing trouble coming..."  
  
"AYE!!" The entire crowd boomed.  
  
"Anyone think that it'll actually work out in Ranma's favor for once?"  
  
A cricket's chirping filled the uncomfortable silence.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Ranma snorted and woke up. He yawned,   
then stretched out from his nap. The roof was   
a great place to catch up on his sleep. After all   
the nightmares that had haunted him last night,   
he'd needed it. Then he noticed something...  
  
"ARGGGHHH!!! It's night already?! I missed   
all my classes!!!"  
  
He paused as he realized what he had just said.  
  
"Wait a sec...I missed all my classes! Why   
am I COMPLAINING about it?!!"  
  
A bell chimed softly.  
  
"Meow."  
  
"Huh?" Ranma pivoted around to see a small cat   
padding its way toward him.  
  
Smiling, he reached down to pick it up only to   
see it vanish as it leaped toward him.  
  
"What the...?" This was getting to be too weird.  
  
"Ryoko."  
  
He looked up to see an attractive cyan   
haired girl standing above him.  
  
"Ryoko?"  
  
"That's my name."  
  
The girl smiled, her eyes seeming to glow in  
the starlit night. There was an almost feral   
quality to her features that seemed to   
enhance her already stunning beauty.  
  
Wait a second. Her eyes...  
  
"YOU'RE THE MONSTER THAT WAS IN THE POOL!!!"  
  
Her golden cat like eyes narrowed, instinctively   
the Masaki lad took a step back from that glare   
that promised lots and lots of pain.  
  
"It was cold in that cave..."  
  
Oops. Maybe he shouldn't have called her a monster.  
  
"....and dark. I was trapped in there for seven hundred years.   
Seven HUNDRED years! Do you have any idea what's that like?!"  
  
"Uh...uh...uh..."  
  
"That's why I have to kill you.   
Too bad though, you're kinda cute."  
  
That snapped his wits back together.  
  
"Kill me?! But I haven't done anything!!"  
  
Ryoko shrugged.  
  
"So what? I've got a lot of pent up   
stress and frustration that I need to   
let loose...RIGHT NOW!!!"  
  
Ranma had already dived to the side,   
alerted by the motes of glowing energy   
that had spontaneously appeared around   
Ryoko and gathered to form into a ball in   
her palm. The blast blew a giant crater   
in the school roof and caused a lot of   
smoke and dust from the explosion.  
  
He started running. Laughing wildly   
Ryoko flew after him, firing brilliant   
beams of destruction nonstop.  
  
Amazingly he managed to dodge them all   
as if he knew where the blasts would   
be aimed at despite not being able   
to actually see Ryoko for more then   
a few seconds at a time.  
  
"HEY!! Quit it!! You're going   
to really hurt someone with that!!!"  
  
Ranma yelled back as he jumped   
to avoid yet another one of the   
demoness's attacks.  
  
"I know. That's the point! Now be   
a good little boy and take your   
punishment like a man!!"  
  
"Forget it lady!!"  
  
"What's a matter.....feeling a little chicken?"  
  
That did it.  
  
Nobody, absolutely nobody called Ranma Masaki   
a chicken. As a cloud of smoke temporarily  
obscured him from Ryoko's sight the martial artist  
made his move.   
  
Ryoko blinked in surprise as the dust settled to reveal nobody  
in front of her. Then she came down to get a closer look.  
  
{Where'd he go?}  
  
"How'd he do that?"  
  
*GLOMP*  
  
Arms encircled Ryoko's chest, pinning her hands to her sides  
as a pair of legs wrapped around her waist from behind.  
  
"Gotcha." Ranma whispered softly into Ryoko's ear.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Hovering in midair a spiky-haired space pirate feared   
throughout the quadrant for several centuries found   
herself trapped by a mere seventeen year old earthling.  
To say that she was shocked by this turn of events would   
be an understatement of criminal proportions.  
  
Ranma was equally surprised but for a different reason.   
Apparently he'd misjudged Ryoko's position when   
he'd landed on her. As a result of this he found himself  
clutching two round objects instead linking his   
arms around the demon's waist. Puzzled by this unexpected   
development, his brain locked up trying to figure out what   
was wrong with this situation.  
  
Left without any guidance his hands started   
roaming freely to try and get more data. Tactile   
senses determined that the objects in question were  
warm, firm to the touch, and much more then a mere   
handful. This felt awfully familar, but he couldn't quite   
put his finger on it...  
  
*Squeeze*  
*Squeeze*  
  
Ryoko's eyes widened.  
What the hell was he doing?!  
  
{I'm going to kil...ki...kill...oh...ah......Ooh!!}  
  
His fingers discovered a smaller area that felt   
different from the rest, a hard point that tightened   
as his fingers gently explored this newest anomaly.  
  
"Eek!"  
  
This was all happening too fast! She was the one that   
was supposed to do the seducing around here! Ryoko   
dove toward the ground in a panicked attempt to get   
this unexpected passenger off of her. While this did   
snap Ranma's mind out of its locked up state it also   
caused him to tense up in a reflexive response to   
being smashed against the school roof, his grip   
tightened involuntarily.  
  
"EEEK!!!"  
  
The resulting flood of sensation to a very   
sensitive area caused Ryoko to swerve wildly  
and narrowly miss colliding into   
the third story wall. She bucked wildly  
and began to zig and zag in midair,   
which only caused him to hold on more   
firmly.  
  
In the meantime Ranma's Central Nervous   
System was trying to relay a message to   
his increasingly distracted Brain.  
  
(Hand to Brain! Hand to Brain! We have a problem!)  
  
(What is it? I'm kinda busy trying to keep us alive at the moment!)  
  
(Just thought you'd like to know that   
we've found out what we're holding onto.)  
  
(So what is it? And make it fast!)  
  
(Ryoko's bosom.)  
  
(Oh that's nice, now go do something   
useful...*twing*...!...what did you say?)  
  
(Ryoko's bosom. We're currently clamped onto   
a very nice pair of...)  
  
(WHAT?!)  
  
At this point Ranma finally realized what   
his hands had been clutching so tightly.  
  
"Ack!"  
  
The hands were retracted as if   
they'd just touched red hot coals.   
In this particular case they were   
practically the same thing.  
  
Of course that was when he realized that   
he'd just let go of the only thing keeping him   
airborne.  
  
"AAAHHHHH!!!"  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Amazingly the part time martial artist   
managed to somehow land on his feet, it helped   
that he'd chosen to let go during one of Ryoko's   
lower passes over the roof.  
  
Which only left the space pirate to deal with.  
  
The very embarrassed female space pirate who had   
just been mistakenly molested by a pair of rogue   
appendages.  
  
"How dare you!"  
  
"Wa..wait a sec!!! I didn't want to   
grab you or anything, honest!!! It was a  
mistake, why'd I want to feel up an old   
demon trying to kill me??!!"  
  
Oh boy. That did it. Ryoko saw red as the   
insult struck home. A feline look of pure   
rage appeared that made all the old legends   
about her wrath seem like little kid stories.  
  
"Why you!! Now you die!!!"  
  
A bright orange Beam Saber materialized in her right hand as  
she dove downward like a striking bird of prey. The hellish glow   
from the blade seemed to promise much pain for its victim.  
It seemed that she was really serious this time.  
  
"Oh shit!"  
  
Ranma started running.  
  
~~~~~~~  
-A short while later  
  
*PANT*  
*PANT*  
  
Okay time to take stock of the situation.  
One roof blown to bits.   
  
Check.  
  
One classroom destroyed by a gas explosion.  
  
Check.  
  
One classroom blasted by a weird energy beam.  
  
Check.  
  
One very pissed off demon about to cut his   
head off for insulting her.  
  
Check.  
  
Call it dumb, call it sexist, or just call it a deeply   
ingrained sense of survival but he hadn't been able to work   
up the nerve to actually hit Ryoko. It probably would   
have only gotten her more mad at him then she already   
was anyway. If he was going to die he'd like to at least   
do so as a *whole* man.  
  
"Um...I suppose it's too late to say I'm sorry?"  
  
"You got that right!"  
  
The plan had been to just scare the Masaki kid for   
abandoning her in the dark cave. But after he'd felt   
her up and then said those mean things to her to boot   
Ryoko was out for blood, Ranma's blood to be precise.  
  
The deadly lance of solid light cut down.  
  
*SNAP**HISS**CRISZZZZZTTT*  
  
A blade of blue energy materialized from within  
the torn remnents of Ranma's schoolbag as the Master   
Key activated to defend the blood of the Royal House   
of Jurai. It parried the blow intended for Ranma and   
then thrust its hilt into the stunned school boy's hands.  
  
"Hey! That's not fair!!" Ryoko protested as she swung again   
with the same lack of results. Her energy beams had no effect   
either against the other sword's defensive forcefield.  
  
"Lady, I'm not the one doing this! This thing's got a mind of its own!!"  
  
Pulled forward by an irresistible force the reluctant   
teenager was forced into a duel with the ravishing   
buccaneer from the stars. Gradually he drove her   
onto the defensive, the sword supplying the experience   
that he lacked to thwart Ryoko's every strike and thrust.  
  
One such move left the young Masaki   
eye to eye with a bountiful display   
of cleavage.  
  
"Arrggh!!!"  
  
Therapy had gotten him up to being able to   
carry on a coherent conversation with a girl   
from a safe distance away. *This* was an entirely   
different story altogether!  
  
Ryoko's anger was briefly replaced by curiosity as   
Ranma's expression bordered on sheer terror before he   
somehow managed to move a good ten feet away from her   
before she could blink.  
  
{What in the world?}  
  
Then the implications of that look hit her, the cyan haired   
beauty looked down to see what had scared her opponent so.  
  
{Why that little...how dare he!!!}  
  
She'd never felt so insulted in her life. The blow to her   
pride was considerable, especially since Ryoko knew   
she was very attractive. Tears started to form in her eyes   
at this complete rejection of her by the one person she'd   
waited for seventeen long years to be with.  
  
"So...so you find me that hideous do you..."  
  
Unnerved by the threatening shimmer he saw building in those   
heartbroken golden pupils Ranma blurted out the first words   
that came to mind. Of course that meant his brain didn't get a   
chance to proof read his speech.  
  
"NO!! NONONONO!! That's not it at all!! You're too   
attractive!!! It's my fault, I'm not used to being so close to such   
a cute girl!!! It was an accident I didn't mean to call you a devil!  
It's just that this has never happened to me before!"  
  
{Did I just say what I think I said?!}  
  
Oh well. Can't win them all.  
  
[Does he really mean that!?]  
  
Suspicious yet hopeful at the same time,   
Ryoko decided to test the truth of his words.  
  
Using her free hand she inched the shoulder of her outfit   
down....WAY down. A wind and a prayer kept the fabric   
from falling past the bounds of decency (relatively speaking).  
  
Ranma's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, his attention  
glued to the teasing sway of the oh so thin cloth. A sudden   
weakness in his knees nearly caused him to collapse but he   
didn't notice. Ranma's primal instincts were torn between   
fight, flight, and something else entirely...  
  
{Well, well, well. What have we here?}  
  
Ryoko's mood improved immediately as she   
watched the effect her little display had on her choosen   
prey. Now she knew exactly what kind of punishment  
to give him. Her wicked grin was not for the faint of  
heart, nor did the lusty gleam in her eye spell anything   
except trouble.   
  
Ryoko took a confident step forward.  
  
Ranma took a small trembling step back.  
  
She advanced, he retreated. The mingled look of   
panic mixed with a raging case of repressed male   
hormones was getting her juices flowing, nothing like   
stalking your prey before bringing it down to prepare  
for the main course.   
  
Deciding to end this little game, enjoyable though it was,   
the space pirate teleported the remaining distance between   
them.   
  
She forgot about the sword he was still holding.   
The automatic defense program was running   
and Ryoko was still designated as hostile.  
It targeted her power source and prepared   
to neutralize the threat.  
  
Both of them realized what was happening at the same moment   
as the glowing blade came up from its guard position.  
  
{Oh no!}  
  
Ryoko froze in shock as she watched the   
sword swing toward her wrist in slow motion.  
  
Ranma saw the fearful expression on the girl's face   
as the Master Key aimed for her hand and something   
within him snapped.  
  
"NO!"  
  
Digging his heels into the dirt he pulled back with   
all of his strength, trying to divert the sword from its   
course. Ranma gritted his teeth as he strained to   
stop himself from cutting off the demon's hand, she'd   
tried to kill him moments ago but he just couldn't allow   
her to be hurt for some reason. A salty iron taste filled   
his mouth as his teeth cut into his lower lip. The   
pain drove him on, with a visible heave of effort Ranma  
managed to just nick her, taking her gem off in the process.  
It was a masterful feat of incredible swordsmanship that   
was made even more impressive by the fact that it had   
just been a stroke of incredible luck.  
  
The small red gem burst into flame and disintegrated   
before it ever hit the ground. In the background another  
school building exploded as human and alien looked at each   
other, unsure as to what to do now. Normally the fight scene   
was resolved one way or the other but since this wasn't a   
canon story there were no precedents to follow.  
  
"Um...."  
  
Ranma scratched his head and started laughing nervously.  
  
Ryoko looked puzzled for a moment before she too started   
to laugh. Partly in relief and partly because this *was*  
kind of funny in hindsight.  
  
"Oh well, another battle lost. That's the story of my life it seems."  
  
She decided to stick to her rehearsed script.  
Since Ranma had just saved her from what would   
have probably have been a very painful experience  
she couldn't just start attacking him again. For starters   
she'd probably lose to that damn sword, besides the pirate   
had other plans for her hero.....  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
Granted he hadn't actually beat her but it seemed like   
the right thing to say at that moment. For some strange   
reason this situation of defeating a girl in combat sent a   
shiver running down Ranma's spine.  
  
"Oh, don't worry Ranma. We'll meet again."  
  
The cyan haired girl bowed then vanished   
into the ground with a smile.  
  
"...uh..."  
  
Why did he have a very bad feeling about this?  
  
It might have been partially due the fact that the gas main  
for the entire school chose that particular moment to blow up.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
"Oh man, what a day."  
  
Demons, Giant Explosions, and Magic Swords. This day was   
starting to resemble that Anime series he watched.   
Lost Neon Saber Successer Tenchi 1/2, now that was   
a guy who had a messed up life. Tenchi Saotome was   
such a weenie even though he was a great martial artist.  
He had multiple fiancees, mortal enemies popping out   
of the woodwork, and he couldn't make up his mind and see  
that the one person he could be happiest with was right there   
in front of him!  
  
{If I was in his shoes I'd never mess up that badly!   
All Tenchi's got to do is marry Kasumi Ruriko! It's so   
obvious!!! How can he not see it?!}  
  
Trudging up to his room Ranma had almost convinced   
himself that today had just been a bad nightmare resulting   
from letting Noboyuki order their dinner. His father had the   
weirdest taste in easy to prepare food. Who ever heard of a   
meal with no rice or noodles in it?! What the hell was an MRE anyway?   
  
The exhausted young man threw himself on his bed, too   
tired to even bother with a shower.  
  
Strange, his bed wasn't usually this lumpy.  
  
{Wait a second. This mound feels awfully familar....}  
  
*Grope*  
  
{Oh no. It CAN'T be...}  
  
Flinging off the cover confirmed his worst fears.  
  
Lazily Ryoko opened one eye from where she lay.  
  
"Welcome home...Ranma."  
  
Ranma raised his gaze to the ceiling as the sight of the   
disordered state of the girl's clothes was quite distracting.  
  
"Oh boy..."  
  
Maybe exploring the cave hadn't   
been such a good idea after all.  
  
(To be continued...) 


	2. Act Two: Two Princesses Too Many!

Chapter Two: Two Princesses Too Many!  
  
by Shade  
  
Disclaimer: Do not adjust your screen.  
  
I control the font.  
  
I control the type.  
  
I control the spellcheck.  
  
You are about to enter a world where sanity has no place...  
  
You are about to enter...the Fanfic Limits.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
A ship was heading toward a small insignificant   
  
planet that orbited a run of the mill yellow star.  
  
While this event had absolutely no repercussions  
  
for the normal people that inhabited this dull little   
  
mudball, for one Ranma Masaki this night would   
  
change his life forever.  
  
For a spaceship this one was rather unusual. It had no  
  
visible means of propulsion and bore a faint resemblence   
  
to the old Viking warships that had dominated the Earth's seas   
  
a few centuries earlier. In fact the entire ship looked like it   
  
had been carved from a tree. This astounding blend of   
  
science and nature was a Royal Juraian Battlecruiser, one of the  
  
the most powerful vessels in the renowned Jurai Space Fleet.   
  
Possessing enough firepower to reduce a small city to ash   
  
in the span of a few moments, it was a work of art. The lines   
  
of the vessel had been carefully designed to give anyone who   
  
viewed it the impression of a great dragon or sea monster  
  
when they first beheld it. It seemed to fairly radiate an aura of   
  
quiet authority and subtle menace, a impression that the Juraians   
  
had used many times in their negotiations with others.   
  
This particular ship's name was the Ryuu-O, the personal flagship   
  
of Crown Princess Ayeka of Jurai. Though technically her mother  
  
Queen Misaki was in control of Jurai's military, as the eldest   
  
remaining heir to the throne the princess was expected to prepare   
  
for her future role as ruler of the vast Jurai Empire by learning the  
  
future responsibilities she would have bear *before* she was coronated.   
  
As the seventh most powerful class of ship in the known universe   
  
(eighth if you counted cabbits) there was practically no need for an   
  
escort of smaller vessels to protect the Ryuu-O. So when the majestic   
  
craft approached the third planet of the star known as Sol, it came alone.  
  
And given Princess Ayeka's formidable natural abilities and two loyal   
  
Guardians it was of little surprise that aside from herself and her sister  
  
there were no other people on board.  
  
As she came out of stasis the crown princess had only the utmost   
  
confidence in her mighty tree-ship. It would take her to her   
  
long lost brother Yosho and finally allow her to take revenge   
  
against the evil space pirate Ryoko. The possibility of losing   
  
and getting stranded on this third rate backwater planet never   
  
even crossed Ayeka's mind for a moment, it was simply inconceivable.  
  
Ah, the innocence of youth.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
-On the dull mudball  
  
"YOU!!!"  
  
He was quite ready to wake up   
  
from this nightmare now.  
  
Any second now...  
  
Any second...  
  
Wake up already!!!  
  
"Mmm hmm."  
  
Ryoko sat up and gave him a long leisurely look   
  
normally associated with big *hungry* cats and   
  
thick juicy hunks of steak. The fact that she already   
  
had a rather feline quality to her helped convey the   
  
illusion quite nicely. Ranma actually patted himself to   
  
make sure his clothes were still on, so unnerved was  
  
he by the smouldering sultry gleam in her golden irises.  
  
Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. End result...  
  
{I'm screwed.}  
  
Well, it might not be such a bad way to go.  
  
That traitorous thought was subsequently lynched   
  
by the calm reasoning side of his mind.   
  
"Time to put that sword of yours to some good use."  
  
{Eep!}  
  
The sultry double meaning left the poor Masaki boy   
  
stunned and helpless as the wicked space pirate   
  
started to advance on her cornered prey.  
  
"Oh Ranma..."  
  
Then the Ryuu-O's energy signature came within her detection range.  
  
{Damn! Why now of all times?! I was just getting to the good part!!}  
  
So much for a little fun first, it was time   
  
to get her jewels back and make tracks   
  
before *she* arrived.  
  
"I want your balls please."  
  
The sounds of the crickets chirping   
  
outside could be heard for a long moment.  
  
"...OVER MY DEAD BODY!!!"  
  
"You numbskull! I meant the gems in your sword."  
  
"Oh. In that case...wait a second,   
  
what do you want those for?"  
  
"I need to call Ryo-ohki."  
  
"Ryu-ohki?"  
  
"The other demon in the legend."  
  
"Wait a second, you want to call   
  
*another* demon?!!"  
  
"Got it in one schoolboy."  
  
Ryoko gave him a saucy wink.  
  
"Forget it! One of you is trouble enough,  
  
two is absolutely out of the question!!"  
  
"Are you sure? Because the one   
  
coming here is a lot worse."  
  
He gave her a blank look, not   
  
understanding what the heck she   
  
was talking about.  
  
"Who's coming here?"  
  
A serious look appeared on   
  
her exotic face.  
  
"She's the devil."  
  
"What?!"  
  
Ranma found himself distracted by the finger that   
  
the shockingly sexy demon was running along his chest,   
  
somehow she'd managed to corner him on the bed again.   
  
"She's mean like a devil, she'll fire on us   
  
without even giving you a chance to talk."  
  
He opened his mouth to make an intelligent reply.  
  
"Uh..."  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
-High Earth orbit  
  
The Crown Princess of Jurai sneezed.  
  
"Haven't you found her yet?"  
  
"Um...there appears to be a problem."  
  
Azaka wished that he could be anywhere else   
  
in the Universe at that moment. Princess Ayeka  
  
tended to react violently to bad news and being  
  
the one who brought it to her wasn't very   
  
conductive to one's health, even if that someone  
  
happened to be an advanced artificial construct   
  
designed to serve as both an assistant and personal   
  
defense system.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Well...it seems that..*mumble**mumble*..."  
  
"Speak up!"  
  
"Yes Ma'am! According to Interstellar Law the   
  
Galaxy Police file of the Space Pirate Ryoko  
  
will expire on stardate 00432. Which will be  
  
in about five seconds."  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
A screen showing a picture of a smirking Ryoko  
  
along with her long criminal record popped up on   
  
the main viewer. A large red digital readout   
  
accompanied it.  
  
'5'  
  
"How can this be?! Why is that demon not chased and   
  
hunted for all eternity?!"  
  
'4'  
  
"The statue of limitations is set by the Holy Council of Planet Jurai..."  
  
'3'  
  
"That's not what I'm asking!! I want to  
  
know why that pirate hasn't received the   
  
maximum measure of justice!!"  
  
'2'  
  
"The statue of limitations..."  
  
'1'  
  
Ayeka stared helplessly at the   
  
smug picture of her hated adversary  
  
as the lines of text that recorded each and  
  
every crime that Ryoko had commited in  
  
the past 5,000 years were erased in the blink  
  
of an eye.  
  
'File Deleted'  
  
"What are your orders Princess?"  
  
For a long moment she said nothing, her royal   
  
head hanging in defeat. Ryoko was a free woman   
  
now, her record as clean as a new born babe. By  
  
the Goddess, it was just so unfair! To have come so   
  
close and only to find that her quarry had slipped through  
  
her fingers. Now she would have to return in failure,  
  
while the pirate would no doubt be celebrating her   
  
good fortune.   
  
Well it would be a cold day in the Nether-hells before   
  
a member of the Royal House gave up that easily!  
  
"Azaka! Kamidake!"  
  
"Yes, Ma'am!"  
  
"Take us down, We're going to question   
  
Ryoko about my brother's whereabouts."  
  
"But contact with this planet is strictly   
  
forbidden by Jurai's High Council."  
  
"Are you questioning my orders?"  
  
The two Guardians shivered. They did   
  
not want to end up as royal lawn ornaments.  
  
"No Ma'am!"  
  
"Then begin Ryuu-O's descent."  
  
"Right away!"  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
"C'mon, give them to me."  
  
He held a hand up to block her advance.  
  
"Wait! Let me think about it."  
  
It proved to be a less then stellar   
  
idea when she kept on coming anyway.  
  
"Gimme!"  
  
Ryoko knocked him back onto the bed and   
  
reached over for the sword hilt, in the   
  
process she wound up straddling Ranma's  
  
hips as she stretched out. It was quite  
  
a compromising situation, but the poor sap   
  
(much to the horror of Ryoko fans everywhere)   
  
was in no mood to appreciate it.  
  
"Hey! Get off of me!!"  
  
This was starting to get frustating  
  
for the space pirate. What was she doing wrong?   
  
Wasn't this how Earth people got together?  
  
"You know, a lot of guys would love to be in  
  
your position right now. So just lie back and   
  
enjoy the ride."  
  
"No! Let go!! Help!!!"  
  
Ryoko paused for a moment as   
  
a sudden thought hit her.  
  
"Say, you wouldn't happen to be..."  
  
Ranma's face reddened angrily as he   
  
figured out what she was asking.  
  
"I AM NOT GAY!!!"  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
-Outside the window  
  
Noboyuki perched precariously on  
  
a stepladder as he prepared to record   
  
his son's entry into manhood (among other  
  
things).  
  
"Oh glorious day! My wife in heaven, you'd   
  
be so proud of our boy. Ranma's finally   
  
brought a girl up into his room!"  
  
And lo, there was light!  
  
"Achika? Is that you?!"  
  
The response blew him away. Literally.  
  
"RYOKO!! RYOKO!! COME OUT AT ONCE!!"  
  
~~~~~~  
  
The crown princess was feeling rather  
  
silly since nobody was responding.  
  
Had her guardians made a mistake?  
  
"Is this thing on?"  
  
"Yes ma'am."  
  
"Oh, never mind! Fire a warning shot."  
  
Matching sweatdrops materialized on  
  
the backs of Azaka and Kamidake.  
  
"But you said we weren't going to..."  
  
"That's an order!!"  
  
"Ye-yes ma'am!"  
  
Oh well, what was the worst   
  
that could happen anyway?  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Although the actual energy discharge   
  
dissipated harmlessly a few meters   
  
above the planet's surface, the   
  
resulting shockwave from several  
  
cubic meters of air being vaporized   
  
was enough to shatter windows for   
  
six blocks in every direction.  
  
*BOOM*  
  
It also sent Ranma flying straight   
  
toward Ryoko. Fortunately for him,   
  
his landing was well cushioned.   
  
He was so shaken by the explosion   
  
that for once he didn't notice at   
  
all that he'd landed in yet another   
  
compromising position with her.  
  
"She's shooting at us!!"  
  
The demon's devious smile now stretched from ear to ear.  
  
"I told you so."  
  
Even Ranma wasn't crazy enough to think  
  
he could take on a Giant Alien Spaceship  
  
With Really Big Guns(tm).  
  
"We've gotta get out of here!!"  
  
"If I had my gems we could escape on Ryo-ohki."  
  
Decision time. The Evil he knew or...  
  
With a small sound the rest of what had once   
  
been his bedroom window fell to the floor   
  
and shattered.  
  
Decision made!  
  
"Okay! You win!! Just get us out of here!!"  
  
Victory!   
  
Her excitement temporarily getting the   
  
better of her, she glomped onto him.  
  
"Arrggghh!!!"  
  
Oopsie.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
"You've got a twisted sense of humor, old man."  
  
The greatest wizard in the Forgotten Realms smiled  
  
and blew a circle of blue smoke from his pipe.  
  
"Age does have its advantages."  
  
Rowan turned back to the pool.  
  
"I wasn't complaining."  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
As soon as Ryoko released him he was  
  
able to still the reflexive panic that   
  
her impulsive action had sparked. He   
  
would have time to freak out later.  
  
Assuming of course that there *was*   
  
a later...  
  
"So what am I supposed to do again?"  
  
"Just point the sword towards   
  
me and wish for my gems back."  
  
"That's it?"  
  
Somehow he thought there should be   
  
more to it then that. After all in   
  
"Lost Neon Saber Successer Tenchi 1/2"  
  
the ritual to restore the magical   
  
grav-cores to the Evastalis units  
  
had taken a long and complicated  
  
ritual of chanting and dancing in  
  
formal kimonos while the Happo-dolls  
  
were cermonially sacrificed to appease  
  
the Four Goddesses of Feminity.  
  
"Yup."  
  
Then again, never look a gift horse in the mouth.  
  
He did as directed, aiming the gem end   
  
of the sword toward the cyan haired demoness  
  
and closing his eyes in concentration.  
  
Ryoko clasped her hands together in front of her.  
  
She felt the beginnings of a familar tingle,  
  
one that signaled her long lost power was   
  
finally being returned.   
  
A wave of sheer pleasure swept over her   
  
as the first gem materialized on the bottom   
  
of her left wrist.  
  
Then it stopped.  
  
She was puzzled at first,   
  
then concerned, and finally   
  
the anger hit.  
  
"HEY! You only gave me back one gem!"  
  
"I know."  
  
Ranma gave her a look that seemed to say   
  
"How stupid do you think I am?".  
  
The demoness at least had the grace to look a little sheepish.  
  
"Oh. Well that's okay."  
  
Deciding to make the best   
  
of things she began to call  
  
her long lost partner to her.  
  
"Come Ryo-ohki! Come!!"  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
In the Masaki Valley, a slumbering  
  
presence long submerged beneath   
  
the lake started to stir itself  
  
to full wakefulness.  
  
{MiiiyyaaAAA!!}  
  
Scattered crystals inside the  
  
heart of the ship arose from the   
  
floor and swiveled into place as  
  
the main systems came back online.  
  
The surface of the lake began to   
  
churn and froth as the ancient   
  
ship arose from its watery grave  
  
to serve its mistress once more.  
  
Ryo-ohki was resurrected.  
  
"MiiiYYyaaAA!!"  
  
~~~~~~  
  
-Run Away! Run Away!  
  
"We are picking up another ship   
  
headed toward this area. It's Ryo-ohki."  
  
A screen popped up showing the approaching vessel.  
  
"There you are, you heinious criminal battleship!"  
  
Needless to say, Ayeka was less then pleased to see it.  
  
"Open Fire!!"  
  
You might even say she was *royally* pissed off.  
  
~~~~~  
  
-B-A-K-A  
  
{Why is this happening to me?!}  
  
That one despairing thought kept   
  
echoing over and over in his head.  
  
{I always wanted a little excitement   
  
in my life, but not like this!!}  
  
He was in a spaceship that "meowed".  
  
He was with a girl that had just   
  
tried her best to kill him a few  
  
hours earlier.  
  
And to top it all off, some lunatic  
  
with some kind of score to settle   
  
with his companion was chasing after   
  
both of them and apparently trying   
  
her very best to make them both very,   
  
*very* dead!!  
  
"I'd like to wake up now!"  
  
A distracted Ryoko tossed   
  
something square and flat   
  
at him.  
  
"Could you hold this for a sec?"  
  
"Uh, sure."  
  
Ranma looked at the object in question.  
  
Two seconds later he realized exactly what it was.  
  
"MY HOUSE?!!"  
  
"Sorry about that, didn't have   
  
any time so I just shrank it and  
  
brought it along. You don't mind,   
  
do you?"  
  
There was even a tiny squished 2D   
  
figure lying on the front yard.  
  
"Dad?!!"  
  
Desperately trying not to break down into   
  
a gibbering wreck from the multiple shocks   
  
to his system, the naive Masaki broke the  
  
first rule of the "Anime Laws Of Stupid Things   
  
Not To Think About In A Crisis".  
  
{Well, at least things can't   
  
get any worse then this.}  
  
~~~~~~  
  
-Things Get Worse  
  
The running battle between the   
  
two warships continued as Ryo-ohki  
  
climbed through the upper atmosphere   
  
in its quest to reach the safety of   
  
deep space.  
  
The Ryuu-O bombarded the smaller battleship   
  
with hundreds of brilliant blue laser blasts   
  
from multiple log turrets that sprang out  
  
of the vessel's outer hull.  
  
This destructive volley was wasted on  
  
Ryo-ohki's advanced armor, in return   
  
the pirate ship unleashed a powerful  
  
strike of six enormous red energy beams   
  
from its central core at the Juraian   
  
Battlecruiser.  
  
The resulting explosion nearly   
  
knocked the First Princess off   
  
her feet.  
  
"Why you...!"  
  
That did it, the gloves were off now!  
  
Focusing her ire on the pirate vessel   
  
they were chasing, Ayeka activated her  
  
magical forcefield, the one that looked   
  
a lot like a bunch of silly logs floating   
  
in midair. It looked pathetic, but it did  
  
bring Ryo-ohki to a complete halt.  
  
{VENGENCE IS MINE AT LAST!!}  
  
"Go Azaka, Kamidake! Capture the Demon!!"  
  
"Yes, Ma'am!"  
  
"Yes, Ma'am!!"  
  
The two wooden Guardians arose   
  
from the floor and teleported out.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
-You Rang?  
  
Ryoko swore silently as her ship came   
  
to a sudden and complete stop.  
  
{Damn! Stupid Power of Jurai!!}  
  
The space pirate angrily gritted her fangs and  
  
began concentrating her energy, trying to break  
  
Ryu-ohki through the barrier that was holding   
  
them both captive. Her efforts were in vain, and   
  
a powerful field of electromagnetic force began  
  
to develop around Ryoko's body.  
  
When Ranma reached out a hand to her   
  
she screamed a warning at him.  
  
"Stay back!!"  
  
He froze, his fingers   
  
inches away from her   
  
hand.  
  
It was just as well that   
  
he did, as an instant later  
  
she was surrounded by a barrier  
  
of blue energy with more then   
  
enough power to render him extra   
  
crispy.  
  
Drums started beating.  
  
{Oh that's just great.}  
  
"Guardians...of...Jurai..."  
  
She was in real trouble now.  
  
Those logs had her but good   
  
this time. With only one gem  
  
the pirate lacked the energy  
  
to defeat their combined power.  
  
{I'm in trouble!}  
  
The blue symboled one began pulling   
  
her into its subspace interior.  
  
"Hey! Let her go!!"  
  
She turned her head to see   
  
Ranma charge at the Guardian  
  
imprisoning her. It was a   
  
touching gesture, but futile.  
  
A second Guardian with a red symbol  
  
on its front intercepted the boy  
  
before he took more then a few   
  
steps and sucked him into a stasis  
  
field.  
  
Ryoko grimaced as she watched him   
  
get captured. Things had not gone  
  
at all according to her plans today.  
  
{Heh, guess I've lost some of my  
  
edge after 700 years, never would  
  
have fallen for something like this  
  
before...}  
  
Darkness descended.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
-Hello! I Must Be Going!!  
  
Ranma awoke to find himself imprisoned   
  
inside a small clearing. Surrounding him  
  
on all sides were alien trees that formed   
  
an effective organic prison.  
  
"Where am I?"  
  
Then he noticed someone was missing.  
  
"Ryoko? Ryoko! Where are you?!"  
  
Frantically he looked all around him.  
  
Funny how things changed so quickly, an  
  
hour earlier Ranma would have been happy  
  
to have been rid of the violent pirate  
  
demon. But now her absence was enough to  
  
send him into a fit of worry.  
  
{Is she alright? Where could she be?   
  
And most importantly, how am I supposed   
  
to get back home without her help?}  
  
~~~~~  
  
A pair of unseen eyes twinkled with innocent   
  
mischief as they watched the young man begin  
  
to panic.  
  
This promised to be so much fun!  
  
-To be continued 


	3. Chapter San: Princesses, Promises and Pa...

Private Bet Lucky #7  
by Shade  
  
Disclaimer: The creator of Tenchi is an etchi. It's true!   
Just look at all that fanservice in GXP!  
  
Seriously: TSR, Takahashi & AIC properties used in non-profit ways here.   
  
I would like to thank to Corwin, Brian, Dracos, Rez,   
and the gang at Soulriders for their support, corrections,   
ideas and help in going after that idiot who plagerized this particular fic.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Chapter San: Princesses, Promises and Pain (lots and lots of Pain!)  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ryoko awoke to find herself upside down and in yet another predicament.  
  
{Oh crap.}  
  
This seemed par for the course lately.  
  
"Ah, I see you're finally awake."  
  
Just great, of all the people in the galaxy, she had to be captured   
by a spoiled little princess. Well she'd be damned before letting   
Miss Prissy think she'd been beaten yet.  
  
"Kinky! I never knew you royal types swung this way."  
  
Ayeka's features changed from pleased and self-satisfied to outraged   
and pissed as hell. She'd inherited her parents' tempers, and it showed.  
  
"You...you...low-bred pirate monster woman!"  
  
Okay, so her vocabulary needed work.  
  
"Is this the part where you pull out the bull whip and reveal   
your shiny black leather outfit?   
  
"Ye-No!"  
  
Sensing a weakness in her opponent's suddenly flustered composure,   
the wicked pirate grinned evilly as she closed for the kill.  
  
"You should know that I'm quite the screamer."  
  
"Really? Does that mean-Never mind that!! Tell me where Yosho is!!"  
  
"Yoyo?"  
  
"Yosho!"  
  
"Oujo?"(1)  
  
"Well, maybe lat-er-stop that!! Show me Yosho!!"  
  
"Shoyu Yoda?"  
  
"Arrrgghh! Guardians!!"  
  
Azaka and Kamidake obliged by upping the voltage of the barrier holding Ryoko.  
  
Unfortunately for Ayeka, Ryoko had a rather 'unique' physique.  
  
"Oooo! Ahhhh! Yes! Yes!! Yeeeesssss!!!"  
  
Electrical essence, just for space pirates. And it did wonders for the hair too.  
  
Blushing furiously, her royal highness averted her eyes from the spectacle   
of her wanton adversary going through a full body orgasm right in front of her.  
  
Azaka and Kamidake's lightning barrage quickly ceased.   
  
The soft erotic moans took a bit longer to stop.  
  
Ryoko lazily blew a puff of pale smoke past her lips.  
  
"Was it good for you too?"  
  
"AAAAAARRRRGGHHHH!!!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ranma stared hard at the bars of his prison.  
  
They appeared at first glance to be nothing more then simple tree branches   
with a deceptively fragile slenderness.  
  
But during his first attempt to escape, those same weak looking bars had   
instantly acquired a rubber flexibility and a density that rivaled that   
of solid steel.  
  
Obviously the frontal approach wasn't going to work here.  
  
He looked down.  
  
The floor? Perhaps that Breaking Point trick his grandfather had shown him?  
  
Solid wood greeted his eyes. No luck there.  
  
And upon further reflection, probably not a good idea anyway.   
  
Since he was probably still in space, breaking through any floors,   
walls, or ceilings might result in something *very* bad happening.  
  
So Ranma pondered on his dilemma.   
  
"How to get out? How to get out...."  
  
A search of his pockets turned up some lint and an old piece of rice candy   
he'd somehow forgotten about. Not that he was tempted to eat it now,   
even as hungry as he was at the moment.  
  
"Damn it!"  
  
If only it were a conventional prison he could have busted out, no problem.  
  
There wasn't even a guard around that he could complain to!  
  
"This SUCKS!!"  
  
*giggle*  
  
A quickly stifled laugh caught his attention.  
  
There was somebody else out there after all.  
  
The young man looked outside of his cell as best he could from where he was.  
  
It was a jungle out there. Literally.  
  
Nothing but green as far as the eye could see.  
  
*gurgle**gurgle*  
  
His stomach growled.  
  
"Hahahaha!!"  
  
That laughter sounded like a...girl.  
  
{Oh no...please no! Anything but that!}  
  
Slowly, inevitably, the petrified young man began to turn toward his doom.  
  
"Hi! I'm Sasami! Nice to meet you!"  
  
And promptly facefaulted when he realized that she was a *young* girl   
and not a scary woman who would try to smother him in her ample bosom.  
  
"*Giggle*, you're a funny person!!"  
  
Still, she was pretty cute with that long blue hair that was arranged   
in twin ponytails and those expressive pink eyes. In a non-threatening   
kid-sister sort of way, fortunately.  
  
"Er, nice to meet you. I'm Ranma. Um, I don't suppose you could get me out of here?"  
  
"Hmmm...well...."  
  
He could already tell that a "but" was coming.  
  
"I'll do you a favor if you do one for me!"  
  
Suddenly he had a *very* bad feeling about this.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The princess was not in a good mood.  
  
Damn that Ryoko woman for making fun of her!  
  
And double damn those mini-robotic servants that her own mother had forced on her!!  
  
If not for them, she would have used the royal key's protective field   
to extract the information about her dear older brother/fiance.  
  
Past her bedtime indeed! She was *not* a little child to babied around like that!!  
  
But if "Mommy" found out that she hadn't listened to those little wooden pests....  
  
Ayeka shivered, her face blue with fear.  
  
Tomorrow was another day. A petty criminal like Ryoko wasn't worth   
her mother's wrath.  
  
She finished combing her long lustrous hair and prepared for bed.  
  
But sleep did not come so easily to her.  
  
"Oh Yosho, why didn't you ever come back for me?"  
  
What was wrong with her?   
  
She had the delicate skin, the noble bone structure, the ample bos-um-okay,   
maybe not that. But two out of three wasn't bad!  
  
Perhaps she hadn't been forceful enough at the beginning of their relationship?  
  
Yosho had never even given her a real kiss on the lips before he left.  
  
Had she made a mistake in not taking charge of him right away?  
  
Maybe her mother was right after all.  
  
Hugging her prized bullwhip to her chest like a cuddly stuffed animal,   
the troubled princess finally dozed off.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ranma was in heaven.  
  
Food! Glorious food!! Food piled as high as his arms could reach!!  
  
He didn't recognize any of it, but whatever this was, the stuff tasted good   
and there was plenty of it. That was all he needed to know.  
  
Sasami had led him to the ship's pantry right after she'd let him out of his cell.   
It hadn't taken much on his part to convince her. His growling stomach had been   
all the argument needed.   
  
Now she could only watch in amazement as the released prisoner polished off dish   
after dish of gourmet delicacies from a dozen other worlds.  
  
"Are you always this hungry?"  
  
Ranma swallowed what he had in his mouth and washed it down with something   
that looked and tasted like fruit juice, but glowed a bright pink in the cup.   
He wisely decided not to ask about that, since he probably would have regretted   
finding out what it really was.  
  
"Nope, just missed lunch and dinner and so I was *really* hungry."  
  
"Well, if you're ready?"  
  
Ranma sopped up a last bit of gravy with a piece of what looked like a giant mushroom,   
but had the consistancy of fine wheat bread. Popping that last tidbit into his mouth   
and swallowing, he nodded.  
  
"Yeah. I'm good."  
  
The young man followed the little princess out to the walkway.  
  
"So what did you want me to do anyway?"  
  
Sasami smiled.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"How do I get myself into these situations...."  
  
Ranma groaned softly as he snuck his way into Ayeka's chambers.  
  
How the heck had that sweet little girl convinced him to do this?!  
  
"Just steal her headpiece...I must be out of my mind...."   
  
His grumblings drew to a halt as he noted the movement on the bed.  
  
*Giku*  
  
The young man froze as he remembered another room,   
where the girls had tried to....  
  
{No, no, no, no! Not going there! Not thinking about it! Not gonna remember!!}  
  
The sleeping princess rolled off some of her blankets, seeking the soothing caress   
of the cool night air. And exposing an eye widening amount of naked skin   
in the process. While unable to match Ryoko's "assets", it was quite obvious   
that Ayeka was no "little" girl either.  
  
Just his luck; this would have been a whole lot easier if she was.  
  
"She would have to bring that thing to bed with her."   
  
Mustering his courage, the would-be thief snuck across the room towards   
the oversized bed dominating the center.   
  
But as he reached out to snag the ornament, Ayeka chose that particular   
moment to turn over to face the other side of the bed.  
  
{Damnit!}  
  
Ranma moved to the other side and reached out again.  
  
The princess turned back over.  
  
{...}  
  
It was going to be one of *those* days.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sasami watched in amusement from her position on the hill overlooking   
her sister's quarters. This Ranma person was so silly. She couldn't wait   
to see the look on Ayeka's face when she realized there was a boy   
in her bedchamber.   
  
Her older sister really needed to learn to lighten up a bit.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
It was a difficult position he was currently in.   
  
{Just remember, don't look down!}  
  
The young woman's constant tossing and turning had finally settled down.   
But in order to be able to reach her headpiece he had been forced to actually   
get on the bed itself and bend over the princess as he attempted to remove   
the ornament. A task made more difficult by the need to keep his head faced   
in any direction except straight down. The trembling of his hands every time   
the young man thought about how close he was to her didn't help matters either.  
  
And then Ranma did something incredibly stupid.  
  
He looked down.  
  
Right into Ayeka's cleavage.  
  
His head immediately started to swim.   
  
He was too close to her! Women were scary!!  
  
And then he saw the sword.  
  
Clutched tightly to the princess's chest.  
  
That snapped him out of his wooziness.  
  
{Headpiece or sword. Sword, headpiece, sword,   
headpiece...damnit! I must have them both!!}  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
She was again at that fateful day when her brother had left to fight the dreadful   
space pirate Ryoko, the time she had ever seen his handsome features.  
  
"Yosho! Don't leave me!!"  
  
The princess was once more 10 years old, struggling to chase after the older half-brother   
who had been pledged as her fiance.  
  
Like every time she had this dream, she stumbled and fell.  
  
But this time, the slowly fading image of the young man hesitated, pausing for a moment   
at the very edge of her reach.  
  
She didn't question why now of all times this dream was playing out differently.   
She didn't care, all she knew was that this was her only chance to catch him.   
  
This time he was hers.  
  
"Brother!!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ranma's surprise was complete as the sleeping Ayeka suddenly pulled him down into a deep kiss.  
  
He'd never suspected that those delicate looking arms possessed such steely strength.  
  
And she had picked the worst possible moment to catch him to boot!  
  
One hand was now trapped against her chest, still clutching the sword hilt.   
The other hand that was holding the headpiece squirmed frantically but was   
equally helpless as the press of her embrace forced his arm out into the air.  
  
Of course when the young woman hooked her legs around his waist and began   
pressing herself up against him that was when he *REALLY* started to panic.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ayeka was in heaven.  
  
At last, she had him!  
  
She kissed him with the desperate longing that 700 years of waiting had done nothing   
to diminish.  
  
The princess simply couldn't get enough of him. She felt that if she did let go that   
he would vanish like he always had before.  
  
It might only be a dream, but she hoped it would never end. The sensation of warm muscle   
under her hands and legs made her feel all those naughty things that proper young women   
of nobility were not supposed to admit to.  
  
Well propriety could go hang itself out to dry for once!  
  
She moaned into her beloved's mouth, tasting the spicy flavor of braised Yub-yub.  
  
Wait...Yub-yub?  
  
Hold on a minute, hadn't Yosho always *hated* Yub-yubs?  
  
But if that was the case then who...  
  
Her eyes shot open.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Everything started to go black as memory and reality blurred.  
  
Ranma was again a lad of fourteen, trapped under the women hired by his father   
to make him a man. He felt their clawing hands, the over-perfumed breasts   
smothering his face, the hungry looks that saw him as a 'thing' for pleasure,   
not a person with feelings of his own.  
  
He managed to free his mouth at the same moment that Ayeka opened her eyes.  
  
Two screams shook the night.  
  
And then Ranma was airborne, propelled by the young woman's knee.  
  
"PERVERT!!!"  
  
The martial artist landed on his back, still clutching the sword and headpiece.  
  
"AZAKA! KAMIDAKE!!"  
  
The two floating logs from before materialized on either side of the furious princess.  
  
No fool when it came to staying alive, Ranma took off with all due haste.  
  
Ayeka blinked, her anger briefly distracted by surprise at the young man's speed.  
  
"My, how quickly he moves."  
  
At least until she noticed what was hanging from one of his hands.  
  
Her royal headpiece.  
  
"Get that intruder and put him to death!!"  
  
"Right away!"  
  
"Right away!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ranma's years of training under his grandfather were now put to good use   
as he utilized the venerable Masaki technique, "Dodge If You Want To Live!"  
  
Thin beams of blue light repeatedly flashed on either side of his sprinting form,   
resulting in dozens of large craters in the ground.  
  
"Here we come! Here we come!"  
  
A quick glance behind confirmed his fears, those two pieces of wood were flying   
after him, the crystal eyes mounted in their centers the source of the destructive   
rain of energy.  
  
"Why is this happening to me?!"  
  
Ahead of him Sasami clapped her hands together with glee, the little girl obviously   
delighted by all the excitement.  
  
"That looks like fun!"   
  
Ranma scooped the little girl up in his arms as he ran past.  
  
"Wheeee!"  
  
He shot the cheerful blue haired princess an annoyed look.  
  
"I got what you wanted, so how do you stop those things?!"  
  
She gave him an innocent smile.  
  
"They're my sister's Guardians. There's nothing I can do."  
  
Ranma winced. It figured.  
  
"This way!"  
  
Left with no other choice then to follow her directions, he ran straight toward   
the dead end cubby in the tree trunk up ahead.  
  
But when he entered the small chamber, the martial artist discovered that the floor   
underneath him vanished once he set foot on it.  
  
"Aaaaaaa!!"  
  
Down they went.  
  
Azaka and Kamidake paused in their pursuit.   
  
Princess Ayeka would need to be informed that the intruder was descending into   
the detention area.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ryoko sat dejectedly on the floor of her cell.  
  
That damn Juraian technology easily neutralized her weakened powers in here.   
If only she'd had all her gems she could have blasted her way out easily.   
But she didn't have them so she was stuck here.  
  
"I wonder how Ranma's doing?"  
  
Her question was answered a moment later as Ranma came tumbling out of the transport system   
with a cute little girl in his arms.  
  
The space pirate raised an eyebrow at the unusual sight.  
  
Then she grinned.   
  
Time to play the damsel in distress.  
  
"Yoo hoo!"  
  
After gently setting his passenger down, the young man stepped up to the bars of her prison.  
  
"Ryoko! Am I glad to see you! Are you alright?"  
  
And he was. She could see it in his eyes.   
  
It was...unexpected.  
  
Ryoko knew that they hadn't gotten off to the best of introductions.   
She'd planned to bed Ranma shortly after their second meeting,   
believing that hot and steamy sex would be the first step towards   
stealing his heart and developing a romantic relationship.  
  
But now she saw the concern in his eyes, concern for her.  
  
Such a little thing.   
  
And yet at the same time it was not.  
  
Not once in all her 700 years could the space pirate remember anyone ever caring   
about her wellbeing. She'd fallen in love with the brave and adorable child that   
had spent his summers near her cave. And yet her lack of experience with those   
same feelings had forced Ryoko to fall back on old habits of getting what she wanted,   
taking them by force.  
  
Perhaps there was another way to get Ranma to love her?  
  
"So let me out already."  
  
It was something she would have to think about later.  
  
"I would if I knew how these things worked!"  
  
Ranma turned back towards Sasami to ask about the releasing the bars.  
  
Unnoticed by all of them, the sword hilt in his hands pulsed with a soft light   
in response to Ranma's subconscious wish.  
  
With a faint hiss of protest the thick branches slid aside far enough for Ryoko   
to make an exit.  
  
She did so with all due haste.  
  
"Awk!"  
  
Ranma pried frantically at her arms as his ribs creaked under the incredible   
pressure of her excited embrace.   
  
"Can't...breathe!"  
  
"Oops! Sorry!"  
  
She promptly let him go, leaving the young man gasping for air on the ground.  
  
Sasami was at his side almost immediately.  
  
"Are you okay? Did that old lady hurt you?"  
  
Ryoko's eyes twitched dangerously.  
  
{Old?! OLD?!! Who are you calling OLD, you little brat!}  
  
Ranma took a few experimental deep breaths and was relieved to find everything   
still relatively intact.  
  
"Yeah, just give me a second to catch my breath."  
  
Neither of them noticed Ryoko as she rapidly went from simply upset   
to boiling outrage at the sight of her Ranma so close to this pretty child.  
  
But when Ranma patted Sasami on the head and smiled at the girl her anger   
died away, leaving a painful and unfamiliar feeling in Ryoko's chest.  
  
Two sparkling tears welled up at the corners of the proud pirate's golden eyes.  
  
"Ranma..."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Sasami! What do you think you're doing?!"  
  
Ayeka, her two guardians trailing behind, picked that moment to interrupt.  
  
A guilty look appeared on the young princess's face.  
  
"Ayeka. Um, I can explain this...."  
  
The tiara clutched in her small hands didn't exactly help matters either.  
  
"My headpiece! Sasami, how could you?"  
  
The little girl scuffed the grass with one of her sandals and looked down   
at the ground rather then meet her sister's gaze.  
  
"I was bored. It was only a little fun."  
  
"Never mind that! Hurry and get away from that molester!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Molester?!  
  
He was not going to take this sitting down!  
  
"Who are you calling a molester?! Lady, you're the one who grabbed a hold of me!"  
  
"Its different when a girl takes a man in hand-er, I mean never mind that!!"  
  
The furiously blushing princess would not meet his eyes.  
  
That little fact did not go unnoticed by Ryoko.  
  
"Oh ho! So you're a switch-hitter!"  
  
"I am not!"  
  
Ayeka's face was now literally steaming with embarrassment.  
  
"Oh! I'm hurt, after all those whispered promises you mean to tell me that you   
only wanted me for my body?"  
  
"Yes! No! I mean yes-no-yes-no...what am I doing?! Azaka, Kamidake GET THEM!!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The two Guardians began to comply, moving forward for a clear line of fire.  
  
But Ryoko was quicker.  
  
Teleporting right behind the little princess, the pirate summoned her energy blade   
in one hand while seizing her new hostage with the other. Sasami dropped her sister's   
tiara in the grass as she was pulled into Ryoko's clutches.  
  
"Back off!"  
  
Ayeka glowered at the depths that Ryoko was sinking to.  
  
"You still fight dirty, even at the very end."  
  
"Yeah, well what are you going to do about it, Miss Prissypants?"  
  
The princess's amethyst eyes flared with raw elemental anger.  
  
On the ground her the central gem in her headpiece glowed as it responded to its owner's   
furious emotions.  
  
It flew into her waiting hands, allowing Ayeka once again to full access   
of her Juraian powers. Including the one that allowed her to command her   
ship's security at will.  
  
Green vines erupted from the tree prison that had been holding Ryoko,   
seizing her arms and legs before she even realized what was going on.  
  
Her sword fizzled out of existance as she was yanked up into the air, locked tight   
in the organic coils that thwarted her belated efforts to teleport out of them.   
  
Sasami waved up at her.  
  
"Bye bye, strange old lady."  
  
Ryoko twisted around as best she could until her head was able to look straight at Ayeka.  
  
"You cheated!!"  
  
"I prefer to call it 'victory through superior tactics.'"  
  
"And you have the nerve to call *me* a pirate?!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"No, Azaka! Kamidake!! You can't!!"  
  
Sasami moved in front of Ranma, spreading out her arms like a human shield.  
  
"Please move aside, Princess."  
  
The guardians began to split up, trying to approach Ranma from either side.  
  
The young man clutched his sword hilt nervously, trying to back away from them both   
without losing sight of either giant floating log. He wasn't afraid of normal opponents,   
but these talking blocks of wood were about as far from normal as you could get.   
  
He remembered how well he'd fared against them last time,   
and that was when they *hadn't* been trying to kill him!  
  
And if a demon like Ryoko couldn't beat them, what chance did he have?  
  
He swallowed audibly.  
  
"Help."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The Master Key sensed its wielder's panic.  
  
As per Yosho's programming, the automatic defense program kicked in.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
This time Ranma wasn't quite as surprised when the light azure blue blade   
emerged from the warm wooden hilt. He only hoped it would work the same magic   
it had demonstrated in his previous fight against Ryoko.  
  
"No! This can't be! It's not possible!"  
  
Ayeka's distraught cry of utter disbelief was followed by the princess   
collapsing to her knees. What she was seeing simply could not be real.   
The Master Key was activating for this primitive savage? But how could that be?   
  
Only a member of the royal family could even touch it without injury.   
  
And only a direct descendent from her own house of Jurai with the proper genetic markers   
could possibly awaken the Key's slumbering power.  
  
Who was this young man?  
  
BUt as she opened her mouth to forstall her Guardians' attack,   
Azaka and Kamidake opened fire.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The bright gem set in the heart of the Master Key pulsed once.  
  
And in a sudden blur of arms and legs, the young martial artist moved.  
  
The storm of sea blue beams were parried one after another to either side.   
A lethal dance of light and fury that created smoking burnmarks on the handsome   
wooden walls of the interior of the ship.   
  
In the middle of this spectacle, Ranma began to realize he wasn't dead yet.  
  
More, this time he recognized the patterns his body was moving in.   
They were the same ones his grandfather had constantly forced him   
to practice during their kendo training together. During all those   
sessions he'd never imagined that they would be used to do a credible   
imitation of Star Wars.  
  
Of course, he'd also thought that getting kidnapped by demons and perverted princesses   
was impossible too.  
  
Even though he knew it was the sword's doing Ranma was amazed   
by how easily his body fell into the rhythm of intercepting each blast,   
pivoting smoothly on the balls of his feet to get into position for each   
defensive parry.  
  
But when the two giant logs started charging toward him, the memory   
of being swallowed up inside one of those things reared its ugly head.  
  
"Not again!"  
  
Arms crossed in front of his face in an instinctual defensive response,   
Ranma shut his eyes tightly and braced himself for the inevitable.  
  
He waited. And waited.  
  
"Princess, we appear to be incapacitated."  
  
That voice was coming from...over there?!  
  
The tree that had been holding Ryoko now had some new guests. Both Guardians struggled  
in vain against the vines entangling their wooden forms.  
  
"Why is the Master Key protecting you? Who are you anyway?! Tell me!"  
  
Small logs began materializing in midair all around Ayeka and Ranma.   
He was starting to wonder, did these people have a wood fetish or something?  
  
"Ranma! Get out of the way," Ryoko cried out in warning.  
  
"Out of the way of what?"  
  
*BOOM*  
  
One of Ryo-ohki's top crystal extensions punched up through the floor.  
  
"Oh."   
  
Ranma coughed from where he was sprawled out on his back as the dust started to settle.   
  
From her position sitting on top of the young man's chest, Sasami clapped her hands in delight.  
  
"Wow! Do that again!"  
  
"You okay?"  
  
The pigtailed princess smiled down on her human lap cushion.  
  
"Yes. That was fun!"  
  
Ranma blew off a large itchy splinter dangling on the tip of his nose with a resigned sigh.  
  
"Well, I'm glad that at least one of us found that near-death experience enjoyable."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Finding herself shaken loose from the clutches of that grabby tree thanks to her partner's   
impromptu entrance through the floor, Ryoko's game plan was grab Ranma and get while   
the getting was good.  
  
Of course, that all went out the window when an infuriated Ayeka exploded out   
from a large pile of debris directly between the pirate and Ryo-ohki. Especially   
since the Juraian was in full battle costume, complete with the face markings   
and fluffy pom-pom style decorations.  
  
Oh yes, you could always tell those stuck up snobs were serious   
when they were wearing the Fluffy Pom-Poms of DOOM for all to see.  
  
And that meant it was time for this little pirate to show that she meant business too.  
  
Ryoko's outer garments disintegrated in a shower of auburn sparks,   
to be replaced by a sinister skintight bodysuit. On her right side,   
blood red marked its presence right down to the little outline   
of her nipple in the scandalous outfit. Her left side was a dark mirror,   
the ebon material actually made her look more naked then if she'd simply   
stripped herself bare.  
  
Ryoko was gratified to see Ranma blush deeply when he looked at her.  
  
It was nice to see that he had *some* hormones to speak of.  
  
Of course, Ayeka's exclaimations of outrage had to spoil her fun.  
  
"What in Tsunami's name are you wearing now?! I've seen bathing suits with more material!"  
  
"What, this little number? I call it 'Flaunting the difference between a real *woman* and   
*little* girls.'"   
  
She could almost see the smoke rising from the boiling princess's puritan ears.  
  
Ryoko's cold smile was full of teeth.  
  
Payback time!  
  
A sentiment that Ayeka herself seemed to be in complete agreement with.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ranma had a *BAD* feeling about this.  
  
His temple training wasn't even close to complete yet, but even a novice   
like himself could feel the bad vibes being shot off by princess and pirate alike.  
  
Timidly, he still tried to intervene with the voice of sanity.  
  
"Um...is it just me or does this ship seem to be falling?"  
  
"Just a minute, Ranma. This won't take long. I'm just going to feed Her Royal Snobbiness   
a little humble pie."  
  
"You and what army, Space Trash?"  
  
"Space Trash?!"  
  
"Snobbiness?!"  
  
"Why you-"  
  
"I'm gonna-"  
  
He could swear the air was starting to actually turn blue around the clashing duo.  
  
"Uh...this really isn't the time for-"  
  
"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!!!"  
  
The combined roar and terrifying faces finally convinced the young man that reason was   
a lost cause here.   
  
At least with those two.   
  
So the sweating Masaki turned to the only other sane person other then himself on board.  
  
"Sasami, are there any escape pods on this thing?"  
  
"Of course! There's one right over there."  
  
The little princess pointed off to the side. Ranma was glad to see   
it was well away from the building clash between Ryoko and Ayeka.  
  
"Why don't you come along and show me how it works?"  
  
"Okay!"  
  
As they walked off, the explosions started up behind them as the mother-in-law   
of all cat fights got under way.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Drifting down comfortably to Earth with Sasami in a cozy little wooden escape capsule,   
Ranma had time to reflect on the night's events so far.  
  
In retrospect, perhaps it *had* been a little cruel to abandon Ryoko   
and that perverted princess back on that crashing spaceship.   
  
But in his defense, he *had* tried to warn them.   
  
And there had been Sasami's safety to consider.   
  
And to be honest, having already seen several examples of Ryoko's durability,   
Ranma had no doubt that even a crash landing from orbit would do little more   
then annoy her.  
  
After all, according to legend she'd already experienced something similar   
seven hundred years ago.  
  
He was more concerned about Ayeka, unsure of how much punishment that pervert   
was able to take.  
  
Sasami had been quick to reassure him that the interior quarters of the ship   
were the most heavily protected and shielded area. The housing unit was designed   
to survive and protect its occupants from just about anything short of a supernova.   
Even so, he still felt a niggling little sense of guilt.  
  
But Ranma had no illusions as to his chances of personal survival   
had he stayed on the same ship as Ryoko and Ayeka. *They* might   
be able to take that kind of punishment, but *he* certainly wasn't!  
  
And so he watched as the wooden Ryuu-O, locked in a tangled embrace   
with Ryoko's Ryo-ohki, plunged down into the atmosphere.   
  
It was heading straight for....  
  
Ranma's eyes widened. Then he clapped a hand over his face and groaned in horror.  
  
He'd thought that valley looked familar.  
  
Grandpa was gonna be so pissed!  
  
"Is something wrong, Ranma?"  
  
An anxious Sasami peered up at him.  
  
"Nothing that running away to Antarctica for a few decades won't solve."  
  
Maybe he would have been better off crashing with the ship.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
They landed in the woods surrounding the valley with little fanfare.  
  
Even with the added weight of a sleepy Sasami on his back, it only took Ranma a   
little over half an hour to hike his way up to the shrine.  
  
Katsuhito was waiting for him there.   
  
"So what do you have to say for yourself this time, Ranma?"  
  
"Um, would you believe this isn't my fault?"  
  
The old priest arched an eyebrow in response.  
  
"You went into the cave, didn't you?"  
  
Ranma gulped.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Katsuhito nodded at this confirmation of his suspicions.  
  
It appeared his grandson had jumped the gun a little, but in the end everything   
seemed to have worked out relatively well. The presence of Ayeka and Sasami   
complicated things a bit, but as long as the Ryuu-O agreed to keep its silence,   
his secret would be safe enough.  
  
"Why don't you put that child to bed inside the shrine and then go see   
to your friends in the valley's new lake?"  
  
Too thankful that he'd escaped punishment for the moment, Ranma didn't even wonder   
why his grandfather seemed to know what was going on already.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
In the end things somehow managed to work themselves out.  
  
Ayeka and Ryoko were both a bit singed from the crash, but otherwise unhurt   
and still ready to continue from where they'd left off.  
  
Both spaceships were a complete loss. Ryo-ohki had taken the worst of the impact,   
but enough of the Ryuu-O's body had broken off as to make any further space travel   
inadvisable.  
  
The few witnesses to the brief chase between Ryuu-O and Ryo-ohki were dismissed   
as delusional drunkards.  
  
Ranma's house had survived, as had his father.  
  
Neither seemed any worse for the wear after their unexpected trip as a placemat.  
  
But now the house was located right next to the newly created valley lake.   
  
Getting to school was going to be a headache.  
  
And of course, that would probably turn out to be the *least* of his problems   
for the forseeable future.  
  
"More soy sauce please!"  
  
A bleary eyed Ranma reached over the boxes of Chinese takeout and passed the glass bottle   
to his father.  
  
"Well look on the bright side, son! At least our guests are all cute girls!"  
  
"Thank you very much for letting me and my sister stay here, Mr. Masaki."  
  
"Oh don't mention it! I'm just so happy that my son is finally becoming a man!"  
  
"Don't worry, Pops. I'll take care of that little shyness problem he has in no time   
at all. We'll just pick up where we left off last night."  
  
A cheery Ryoko floated over Ranma's shoulder, winking suggestively at him.  
  
"Oh, I'm so moved! And here all this time I was worried that he might be gay!"  
  
It was a testament to his own exhaustion that Ranma didn't simply deck his father   
for that remark.  
  
"Will you sneak into Ayeka's room again tonight too?"  
  
Sasami still hadn't given up on her quest to get her older sister to loosen up a bit.  
  
Of course, Noboyuki interpreted it slightly differently.  
  
"My Son! Two girls in one night, you are truly a man among men!   
Your mother would've been so proud of you!!"  
  
Ranma's eyes twitched.  
  
"Say, where is that other girl anyway?"  
  
"She's off by the lake, trying to salvage that termite infested piece of sawdust   
she calls a ship."  
  
A loud feminine wail of complete misery came from the direction of the lake.  
  
Ranma bowed his head.  
  
"Ah, nothing like a nice cup of tea in the morning."  
  
Katsuhito ignored the stunned expressions of the others at his sudden appearance   
at the breakfast table as he sipped his tall cup of steaming hot tea.  
  
"Oh by the way, Ranma. I've decided on your punishment for releasing Ryoko.   
You'll have to repair the stone steps leading up to the shrine that were damaged   
by the crash. All seven hundred and seventy seven of them."  
  
Ranma sniffled for a moment and then finally broke down crying.  
  
"There there, Big Brother Ranma."  
  
Sasami patted the weeping young man on the head like a child.  
  
"Don't worry! Tonight we can all play together again."  
  
When Ranma heard that he started crying even harder.  
  
(To be continued)  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
1) (SM) Queen 


End file.
